Traveling On Florida’s New High Speed Train, Bright Line!

Video of the new near High Speed Rail Privately Run Brightline service in Florida. This is the first non-Amtrak privately run, for profit intercity rail system in the United States since the private railroads left the space in 1971. So it is being watched in the transportation arena for profit / loss performance. It will be a milestone if the system makes a profit but we will not know for another 4 years until their full Florida network is completed and they have been running the full network for a while. The talking defect detector is a U.S. Railroad safety feature and they exist all over the United States, they inspect a train as it rolls by for hot roller bearings, as well as dragging equipment, etc. and report with an automated voice back to the Engineer if they find anything wrong along with usually number of axles and ambient outside temperature. Each railroad has them reporting slightly differently.

Brightline operates at a speed of 110 mph along the coast (FRA restriction due to railroad crossings), as it cuts across inland to Orlando and later Tampa it will be grade seperated and hit speeds of 125 mph. The locomotives and trainsets are built in California by the German firm SIEMENS. Currently only the West Palm Beach to Miami section of the Florida Network is in operation, they have obtained funds for the extension to Orlando International Airport and have started construction on that part. After that will be an extension to Tampa followed by the largest extension to Jacksonville, FL. This is also a fairly major privately funded public infrastructure project for those that pooh-pooh it would never happen. Total cost of the construction of Florida Network after completion will run them around $10-15 Billion dollars...........thats a lot of cabbage!